The Archers spoilers thread #10: Can't wait for 7.02pm? Join us here!

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Spoilers thread for The Archers. All Archers listeners are welcome here, whether you post on our main Archers thread or not. There's just one rule: please keep all spoiler-related discussion in this thread and do not spill the beans on the main Archers thread.

Last thread: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/5071889-the-archers-spoilers-thread-9-cant-wait-for-702pm-join-us-here

Right! Round up of all spoilers I've found for the next few weeks.

5th January – 10th January 2025
05 Jan David receives some interesting information, and Jolene makes a rash decision.
06 Jan Brad has a confession to make, and there’s backtracking at the Bull.
07 Jan Harrison finds himself in a delicate situation, and Lily takes matters into her own hands.
08 Jan Leonard faces an emotional day, and there’s a surprise for Ben.
09 Jan Harrison reaches a crossroads, and there’s good news at Brookfield.
10 Jan Emotions run high for Fallon, and Henry is on a mission.

Writer: Shaun McKenna
Director: Peter Leslie Wild
Editor: Jeremy Howe

Ben Archer…. Ben Norris
David Archer…. Timothy Bentinck
Henry Archer…. Blayke Darby
Jolene Archer…. Bufffy Davis
Kenton Archer…. Richard Attlee
Ruth Archer…. Felicity Finch
Leonard Berry…. Paul Copley
Harrison Burns…. James Cartwright
Justin Elliot…. Simon Williams
Brad Horrobin…. Taylor Uttley
Tracy Horrobin…. Susie Riddell
Khalil Malik…. Krish Bassi
Kirsty Miller…. Annabelle Dowler
Lily Pargetter…. Katie Redford
Fallon Rogers…. Joanna Van Kampen
Inspector Norris…. Bharti Patel
Scarlett…. Beatrice White

Radio Times Ambridge Diary 5-10 January
Leonard is knocked sideways by some emotional news and all does not go well when he faces a difficult day with the Brookfield family standing by his side. Harrison has to fight to keep his emotions in check when he faces a challenging callout, but then receives a surprising offer from his superior. Lily takes matters into her own hands when Brad tells her he's struggling, Jolene makes a rash decision at The Bull, and Khalil's mouth runs away with him.

12th January – 17th January 2025
12.1 Justin faces a dilemma, and plans forge ahead for Ruth.
13.1 Joy isn’t herself at all, and Helen considers her options.
14.1 Rex is left confused, and Neil has questions.
15.1 The verdict is in for Kirsty, and Brian finds himself out of his comfort zone.
16.1 Emotions run high at Beechwood, and Adam offers the benefit of his experience.
17.1 Mick’s feelings are hurt, and Tom faces a tricky negotiation.

Writer: Liz John
Director: Jessica Bunch
Editor: Jeremy Howe

Brian Aldridge…. Charles Collingwood
Helen Archer…. Louiza Patikas
Tom Archer…. William Troughton
Ruth Archer…. Felicity Finch
Neil Carter…. Brian Hewlett
Susan Carter…. Charlotte Martin
Justin Elliott…. Simon Williams
Miranda Elliott…. Lucy Fleming
Mick Fadmoor…. Martin Barrass
Rex Fairbrother…. Nick Barber
Joy Horville…. Jackie Lye
Adam Macy…. Andrew Wincott
Azra Malik…. Yasmin Wilde
Kirsty Miller…. Annabelle Dowler

19th January - 24th January 2025
19 Jan The Carters debate the next step, and plans come together for Joy.
20 Jan Vince hatches a plan, and alliances are tested for Stella.
21 Jan It’s a life-changing day for one resident, and a seed is planted for Emma.
22 Jan Freddie faces an uncertain future, and Pip’s evening takes a surprising turn.
23 Jan Josh attempts to stir the pot, and Elizabeth considers her options.
24 Jan Disaster strikes for Joy, and Ben fears he has overshared.

Writer: Katie Hims
Director: Pip Swallow
Editor: Jeremy Howe

Brian Aldridge…. Charles Collingwood
Ben Archer…. Ben Norris
Josh Archer…. Angus Imrie
Pip Archer…. Daisy Badger
Neil Carter…. Brian Hewlett
Susan Carter…. Charlotte Martin
Vince Casey…. Tony Turner
Emma Grundy…. Emerald O‘Hanrahan
Joy Horville…. Jackie Lye
Zainab Malik…. Priyasasha Kumari
Elizabeth Pargetter…. Alison Dowling
Freddie Pargetter…. Toby Laurence
Lily Pargetter…. Katie Redford
Stella Pryor…. Lucy Speed
Fallon Rogers…. Joanna Van Kampen
Nelly…. Jill Baker <<<<< Professor, Dr, Mrs, Ms or Miss Bun the Baker's Wife/Daughter?

Ooh. I wonder whether George will find out about Brad and Amber (not that there's anything to find out) and attack Brad at the Horrobin's, and Harrison will step in and get injured or dedded.

Interesting thought - but d’you think Harrison would be a big enough character death to mark the 75th anniversary year? He’s pretty peripheral, whereas John, Mark, and Nigel were dynastically central. (Although the criminally uninvested creative team has so far squandered those stories, partially.)

I think Jill will be found dead peacefully like her late husband Phil was . I was speculating that Jill might be the much loved resident too, but I can't imagine a scenario where she's advising Ruairi The hospital vigil will be Brad who will be fine.

Jim is much loved and we haven’t heard from him in a while.

Yes, and the actor (John Rowe) will be 85 next month. If the recently strangely silent Alistair is in the cast list, it could be Jim.

Awful thought:
Never ask for whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for the bell-toller!

Not Neeyull! Noooooooooooo!!!

The John and Mark actors left voluntarily, IIRC. Nigel was assassinated.

From the other thread. Maybe the George actor's claim on the podcast to not be a TA-listener might have been strategic, so as to not suggest that it was his main career ambition.
Usually, from interviews I've seen and heard, soap actors claim to have been lifelong followers of the soap.
I'd have feigned an interest, I think.

Just imagine the wailing and rending of garments from Susan (who, despite her teflon gossiping, I do rather like).

Not Neil, Jim or Brad, scriptwriters, d’you hear? I wonder if it will be Amber that ends up in hospital in a domestic violence situation, however accidental. George’s misogyny has been there to see for a long time - his behaviour to Emma and who can forget that awful video of Helen? - plus Ed’s fall...

Does a good shake convince it to be more specific? Turn it off and back on again?

Mr Gasp used to work in IT. It's exceptionally irritating that switch it off and then on again sorts out 99% of the issues I've referred to him over the years.

After George's behaviour this week he has to be odds on favourite for unleashing hell at the Horrobins, but I wouldn't put it past them to be teasing us there. That might actually refer to Jazzer practising his pipes ready for Hogmanay.

I wonder if it will be Amber that ends up in hospital in a domestic violence situation, however accidental.
It won't be Amber, IMO. My money is on George going for Brad and someone intervening, and it will be that person who'll be injured.

The heart-breaking discovery will be something like The Bull ran out of Shires.

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g , a long, long time ago in a galaxy far away, I got called out to fix a support issue. Some serious equipment wasn't working. It wasn't plugged in.
The stop/start button fixed most problems.

FondantFancyAnyone
a long, long time ago in a galaxy far away, I got called out to fix a support issue. Some serious equipment wasn't working. It wasn't plugged in.

I knew someone who for a time worked for a hell-desk aka tech support. He learned early that asking people, who'd called up to blame him because their computer wasn't working at all, whether it was turned on at the wall/plugged in just got him a mouthful of abuse. So he went for subtle.

His revised "bible" went "Ah, we've had some reports of people experiencing trouble with the plugs supplied for that model. Could you check at the wall and tell me if the serial number on it starts with12480?"

This was almost always followed by a silence, and then the sound of a phone being put carefully back on the receiver. (Yes, it was that long ago: mobiles were not yet the way everyone communicated about a desktop personal computer.)

His favourite response of all time was the nerk who said indignantly "I'm not going to be able to see that! There's a power c.... Oh" and then hung up.

any chance we can switch George off and NOT back on again
I suspect that won’t sort his MH out whatever we do

@ednaclouda , do you know how to switch off men?
I find the best way to make them go away is to mention a 'blue job' to them.

A blue job is something like put out the bins or mow the lawn. Some men think you need a penis to do them. These men don't generally go away and think many jobs (like cleaning and ironing) can only be done if you have a vagina.

Loving these IT support desk stories! At Mr Gasp's place of work for many years they had a printout of an email they had received taped to the wall in a part of the IT office which service users did not generally visit. It went something like this:

Hi, can you help me? I can't send emails.

Another great story was the Ph.D. student who had designed an experiment requiring him to time the participants doing something or other. He had dozens and dozens of results and came to the statisticians for help analysing them. Unfortunately he had recorded (say) 1 minute 20 seconds as 1.2. They were all like that. Oh dear.

At a trade fair back in the days when "floppy disks" were presented in thin cardboard squares about five inches across, someone came up to a friend of mine working on one of the display tables and asked her why a floppy disk might not work. She asked if she could see it and maybe test it for him, and he got it out of his pocket and unfolded it to show her.

At the same trade fair she discovered that when someone told her that the coffee-holder wasn't working, he meant that the disk holder which slid into the front of the machine – which, to be fair, had a circular hole in the middle of it about the same size as a paper cup, designed to make it easier to remove the disk from the slider – had warped from the weight of the cups of coffee and no longer slid in and out. She didn't ask how he had been inserting disks; she was afraid he might tell her.

Yesterday I got up to find I had no internet connection on my all-in-one cheapo PC. The router (less than 2 metres away) was working fine. Obviously (I thought) I couldn't diagnose the problem without looking it up, which required an internet connection, so I spent 2 hours running between Mr G's machine and mine, trying everything. Then it dawned on me that maybe the Wifi chip had failed, so I plugged in a cable. And Lo! Fiat Internet!

(As an aside, I idly wonder whether Fiat has ever considered calling a model the Fiat Lux. They'd probably ruin the fun by spelling it Luxe, though.)

Shades of the Nova; there are some countries that doesn't export to well.

Ah, IT issues. I remember a previous company where an email was sent out about a printer problem, where they advised us all to ‘power cycle’ our laptops. So many calls were made to the helpdesk that they quickly sent out a clarification that this meant “turn it off and on again’.

A techy relative informs me that many problems are classed as ‘PICNIC’ - Problem In Chair Not In Computer

The disintegration of George and the aftermath of his actions/imprisonment is not easy to listen to. A friend went to prison and it really changed him - he was perhaps more the Freddie end of the scale as an ex-public school boy but prison is a deeply unpleasant and traumatic place. I visited him and I remember sitting in the car park crying afterwards at the idea of leaving him behind in that terrible place.

But - and hats off to the scriptwriters - all that is underpinned by George’s ongoing misogyny and unpleasantness. He still genuinely believes that this is Alice’s fault for being an alcoholic and that there would have been no harm in her taking the rap as - as he sees it - the consequences wouldn’t have been as harsh for her and, anyway, her posh family would have paid for a shit-hot lawyer to ‘get her off’.

That is a very good point, Totters.

Massive upset on the main Strictly thread where someone mistakenly thought they were posting on the spoiler thread and revealed tonight’s result! I do often find myself double and triple checking which TA thread I’m on.

Has someone already shared this? New Years Day special

With Brad in the cast, I wonder if it’s George that’s in hospital! Or someone else and George has done a bunk.

Sorry to butt in, I’m not often on this board, but does anyone else wish they could march into Ambridge and slap George? Or go back two centuries and send him to Australia? It’s getting painful hearing his latest guilt inducing rants followed by vitriolic outbursts.